Page 32 of The Shadow Path
Lachlan nodded toward the land behind them and to the left. “This park and the Kingswood are wolf territory. We’re not in any danger during the day, but make no mistake. If you stray off the pathways at night, they will find you.”
She heard footsteps to the right, and it might have been a trick of the light, but she saw something moving in the underbrush.
“Lachlan?”
“I hear it. They’re around, but they shouldn’t bother us. We’re foreigners, but we’re guests of the king.” He moved closer even as his horse became restless under him. “Calm, Attalus.”
Carys put her hand on Leuca’s neck, leaving her palm on the warm animal’s body. She felt a hum of serenity even as the flicker in the forest came again, this time accompanied by a crashing sound in the distance.
“Should we go back?”
Lachlan’s mouth was a grim line. “It’s daylight in the park, and we’re guests of King Harold,” he bit out. “There should be no danger.”
Nêrys?
“Cadell is close.” The dragon had remained at Dafydd’s estate, not particularly adept at flying through the bunched trees of the park in beast form.
I’m with Lachlan, and there are wolves in the forest.
Cadell’s voice came back to her mind in a calm, even cadence.The forest is their home.
True. “Is this making you nervous?” She was watching Lachlan, whose eyes were sweeping from left to right. “Should we go back?”
“No.” His jaw was set in a firm line. “They have no cause to bother us.”
Cause or no cause, the crashing sounds were coming closer. The wolves were not masking their approach, and while Lachlan, Carys, and their horses waited near the path, a column of massive, grey- and brown-coated wolves filtered through the brush and out of the forest and began circling the riders, yippingin excitement, then positioning themselves in formation around them.
A perfect circle of preternaturally large wolves surrounding Carys and Lachlan and staring at them as they sat crouched and ready.
Carys wasn’t afraid, but she was feeling… cautious.
There were no snarls or growls, but their utter silence felt more daunting.
She’d run into wolves in the Brightlands, but these creatures were nothing like timber wolves. They weren’t wild in the least. Many of them wore gold or silver bands around their shoulders. Not a collar, but something that almost looked like a wolfish pauldron.
“Good morning to the pack.” Lachlan spoke calmly to the largest wolf, who waited in front of them. “We are guests of Dafydd and Harold, taking a morning ride through the king’s land. Who do we walk with this morning?”
A moment later, Carys saw her first wolf transformation.
A massive white beast with grey shoulders stepped forward and walked toward them, its body shimmering like a mirage a moment before a tall man with a shock of grey and black hair emerged, his body covered in leather armor fitted to his frame like a second skin.
“I am Godrik of the Eskari.” The wolf’s voice was low and menacing. “And you are foreigners trespassing on the territory of Harold, king of Anglia.” His grey eyes narrowed on Carys. “Brightkin are not welcome in this place.”
“Your aggression is unwarranted, Godrik.”Lachlan kept his voice even but firm. “Has Anglian hospitality fallen so low that the king’s guests are unwelcome in his woods?”
Godrik stared at Carys as if Lachlan wasn’t even there. “State your business, Brightkin.”
Carys racked her brain, trying to remember what the forest rangers said about wolf encounters.
She was pretty sure you shouldn’t turn your back to them. Maintain eye contact, but don’t stare too intently because that could be interpreted as a challenge to their territory.
“I am the Brightkin of Seren of Cymru,” Carys said. “The niece of Dafydd of Cymru.”
“You are Brightkin, not of the Shadows.”
“I am also a nêrys ddraig, bonded to Cadell of Eryri.”
That made the wolf blink. “And yet you ride on a horse like any other human?”
